widespread use of online tools such as Wikipedia, Google, and Twitter has developed a

need for rapid information retrieval; simultaneously, museums care for some of the most

valued resources that represent human heritage. It is essential that museums insert

themselves into the digital equation in order to refute the notion of museums as dusty

showrooms of stuff. Paul F. Marty (2008, 33) observes one aspect of public

expectations for online content: "(There are) a growing number of museum visitors,

donors, researchers, and other constituents who now expect museums to provide

access to their collections in digital formats."

       Vision 2030, a 2007 report produced by the Smithsonian Office of Policy and

Analysis, examines emerging generational needs and expectations which are

anticipated to increase in the next twenty years. The Millennial Generation (Millennials),

those who are currently ages 9-19 have come of age using cell phones, computerized

library catalogs, and wireless internet. Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet &

American Life Project, sums up the average "Millennials" and projects how these future

visitors will imagine themselves interacting with museums:

      Millennials are immersed in a world of media and gadgets. They expect to
      be able to gather and share information in multiple devices in multiple
      places. Their information and communication needs are contextual and
      contingent ... The way they approach learning and research tasks will be
      shaped by their new techno-world-more self-directed and less dependent
      on top-down instruction, better arrayed to capture new information inputs,
      more reliant on feedback and response, more tied to group knowledge, and
      more open to cross-discipline insights, creating its own "tagged"
      taxonomies. (Rainie in Smithsonian 2007, 9-10)

A museum's ability to match the quickening pace of information exchange likely will

determine its level of societal relevance as an institution. Maxwell Anderson (2007, 328)

justifies this need by explaining his observations on visitor expectations: "The online

museumgoer promises to become more transactional than a traditional visitor. He or